6/19/17

It would appear that the Wilpons, Sandy
Alderson, and the Mets’ staff are all using conventional wisdom to try to fix
the team. It’s meeting with limited success. Therefore I want to propose some
weird ideas, some thoughts that come from way out of the box, for fixing the
team. There’s also a bunch of other ideas that might improve things, and I’ve even
come up with some other thoughts.

Strength
and Conditioning. Replace all of the people on this staff with
people who work conditioning - not football players, or body building, of any
of those other flash-the abs sports - but conditioning tennis players. Think
about it. When was the last time you saw Serena Williams with an oblique
injury? How often has Rafael Nadal torn his hamstring? The people who train in
that sport use a regimen that is specific to tennis that can equally be applied
to baseball: speed and quickness. Six-pack abs never won a batting title.

Strength
and Conditioning, II. Starting with Wilmer Flores and heading
down through all the other lead-footed members on this team, in the off-season have
all of them take - tap-dancing lessons. Those guys will report to spring
training with far better agility.

Seen
on the Street. I was strolling along when I suddenly spied
Steven Wright, the comedian, walking toward me. He seemed deep in thought as he
stared at the ground, working on some problem that was bothering him. As he
drew next to me, he suddenly stopped, raised his eyes and the sky, and asked,
“I wonder how the sales of Terry Collins shirts are doing?”

Strength
and Conditioning, III. I sound like a broken record (Google it)
as I keep saying this. There have been a number of studies that show that
stress in the workplace causes illness and injury. Sandy should hire somebody
to check out the Mets to see if anything might be affecting the team that is
causing all of these injuries.

It’s
a Long Season. Since you have to plan for the long run, why
doesn’t Terry Collins resolve to use pitchers for at least an inning in all
games before, let’s say, June 15th? If he keeps running in specialists to get
one batter here, and one batter there, it increases the number of pitchers in a
game, and therefore the number of games the pitchers pitch. The bullpen would
probably pull into September with still a little bit of fuel in the tank if
their appearances were longer. Obviously, if a guy sucks, pull him before he
finishes the inning, if he ever does that.

Support
Our Government. Now that the administration is beginning to
settle in, why don’t the Mets do their part by offering up Jeff Wilpon for
service as diplomat to Patagonia. We need to make our contributions to the
government. Also, if Patagonia gets so pissed off at us that they want to go to
war, they’re not much of a military threat.

Strength
and Conditioning, IV. This one is from my wife. Why don’t the
Mets players take a ballet class once a week? It would help stretch out those
muscles that they’re tearing so much.

Mack, what I am getting at was it a "suck it up" atmosphere or Harvey machismo that kept him pitching when starting to really hurt, or did it suddenly happen? Sounds like with lowered velocity, it was not just one pitch. Why these guys can't learn to stop when they start to feel an injury is beyond me.

I can see it now -- ground ball to short:Executing a grand battement jete, cabrera flips to...Flores, relaying with a single buck break & barrel roll to,,,Duda, who swats the ball into RF with a devastating 2-handed backhand.

Makes perfect sense. Like the Seinfeld episode "The Opposite" if everything were doing (in training and conditioning) is wrong the opposite must be right...dam worth a try. Interesting Matt Cerone article about the odds of getting even a wildcard spot based on the projections of 100 wins or the pace the D backs and Rockies are on we would have to go 69-25 or a .734 win %. Now I'd like to see the front office spin this one and tell us we still have a shot.